Saturday, August 21, 2010

Shopping and Chanel No.19: The Sequel

Friday could not come soon enough this week. Between keeping up my schedule and allowing ample time for pouting over my lost promotion, I was exhausted.

Feeling the need for some retail therapy, my sister and I went shopping.

Thank god she was there.

Otherwise, I would stumble from rack to rack, trying on clothes that are the wrong fit, wrong color and wrong style. Shopping with a buddy insures that the sales associate won't have to call B-man to report that his wife is lying on the floor in a fetal position and would he please come and pick her up.

Unlike me, my sister has a great eye for style, color, fit and fashion in general. Shopping with her looked something like this:

Me: Holding up a shirt, 'Is this ugly?' (No kidding, I'm that clueless.)

My sister: 'No, but that color makes your face look red because it has a yellow base.'

Me: 'Does this jacket look good?'

My sister: 'Not really, because the waist is in the wrong place. It needs to be a little higher or lower, but the way it is now cuts you in half.'

Me: 'You really like these pants?'

My sister: 'Yes, because the slim leg makes you look taller. And skinny.'

Huh. I had no idea. Of course, I bought the pants, because I am neither tall nor skinny.

(You know the 80% off 'reject clothes that are built too funny to actually fit anyone' rack? They usually fit me.)

Giddiness followed my purchase of a few stylish pieces that fit right and didn't make me look red-faced. This victory meant there was only one thing left to do: the Chanel counter.

Knowing that No.19 trumps Cristalle on my skin, I spritzed and - thanks to my sister's connections - scored a biggie sample to take home. For some reason, I was not as enamored with No.19 as I was after my bra shopping triumph. In fact, until the base notes kicked in, almost two hours later, I considered scrubbing because I couldn't handle its bitchiness.

Blasphemy, I know. It's supposed to be bitchy.

The good news is that I scored samples of both Chance Eau Tendre and Bleu de Chanel. I'll be testing them soon, but something tells me that neither will make my heart sing.

9 comments:

Josephine, I think you've said it before: No 19 is quite a tricky one to wear, but when it's right, it kicks ass! I'd be interested in reading your take on Eau Tendre and Bleu. I tried Bleu recently and I found it better than the initial negative reviews suggested, but still a long way off anything special, but who knows....

I have never "got" Chance, or any of its flankers, though I believe it is a huge seller for Chanel. 19 is great, but I have to be in the mood, usually in winter. I feel the same about AG Heure Exquise.